Fallen Conquest
by Calfre
Summary: Ky comes across a ruined Phantom City to encounter none other then Zappa, who learns the horrifying truth behind the holy knight's visit PG-13 for Violence. RR! Characters are not mine... only the plot.


Fallen Conquest  
  
Phantom City, scorched to the ground; thousands of lives taken away, apparently by a power of mass destruction. A single force with enough potential to cause a terrible amount of damage with a single blow. Zappa stood alone at an abandoned street, aghast, and looked upon the damage done to his city. "No!" he would cry every now and then, "It wasn't supposed to be like this! What happened!" He examined new wounds sketched into his body, such as scrapes along his arms, and even wide gashes across his chest that he couldn't come to comprehend. He knew something was inside of him, but couldn't come to any understanding as of what it was. He dropped to his knees, nearly in tears; from the physical pain and mental exhaustion along with strong bouts of frustation.  
  
"Dr. Faust warned me of this." Zappa whimpered, "Stay away from humans, but I didn't listen to him. Could I have caused this destruction?"  
  
He took another glance up. Extravigant damage as far as the human eye could see; buildings reduced to rubble, full plated glass shattered to shards, human bodies burned to an ashy crisp. Along with other sorts of debris, the street itself was corroded by several vehicles that had been destroyed and turned completely over, and even abruptly slammed into nearby buildings and structures.  
  
"Hello!" Zappa called out, "Is there anyone out there!" No answer, only the gentle flicker of several flames that burned nearby. He scurried onto his hands and knees and slowly began to crawl, his muscular body bending uncomfortably low, skimming the ground as if he were in search for something, anything. He was desperate to find any sign of life, to find help. His throat felt knotted, and his spirits sank low before his eyes met a pair of white boots with blue shin guards. Zappa gasped as he shot a quick glance into the looming shadow of a tall blonde-haired figure clad in blue and white. His cape fluttered loosely and similar colored longsword was clasped firmly in his leather-bound hand. "Thank goodness." he said with a relieving tone, "a survivor."  
  
"A policeman?!"  
  
The man grasped his arm and helped Zappa to his feet, and immediately took notice to his numerous wounds. "Are you okay, sir?! Do you know what happened?"  
  
Zappa hesitated momentairly. His body tembled and he spoke with a fearful tone. "N-No sir. I - I am not sure. I'm in much pain."  
  
"It's okay." said the man, grasping Zappa by the arm as he began to fall to the ground. He pointed to a nearby bench. "Please, come, let us sit over there."  
  
The two stepped over to the metal bench, it was charred, but still sturdy. Zappa sat and as the man began to talk to him, pacing back and forth.  
  
"My name is Ky Kiske." he said. "I received word that this city was attacked by a brute force. Some say it was a terrible monster, commanded by a man, however no description was given. I do, however, find it incredibly amazing that you could have survived this massacre! Where were you, if you do not mind me asking?"  
  
"I - I don't know." Zappa replied. "I just woke up and... ahh... I was here! Over there!"  
  
"Just like that?" asked Ky.  
  
"Just like that!" replied Zappa. "I thought it was only a dream, but when I woke up, I had noticed just how real it was."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Oh, Mr. Policeman!" said Zappa.  
  
"Just Ky."  
  
"Sorry, Ky, did you happen to see a person named Dr. Faust on your way here? I have been expecting him!"  
  
"Dr. Faust, why would he come to see you?" asked Ky suspiciously.  
  
"He said he would find a cure to my illness!" smiled Zappa. "I fall unconscious now and then, only to wake up with a different set of problems! He said he would look for a cure!"  
  
Ky's face fell into discontent and he turned away from the man's cheery face. "I'm sorry." he said. "I'm afraid you will not be seeing him anytime soon."  
  
"Huh!? Why not!" cried Zappa, jumping to his feet.  
  
"I regret to inform you that Dr. Faust died in the attack that destroyed this very city." said Ky.  
  
". . . Huh!"  
  
"I met him on the way here." said Ky as he began to relate the gory description. "His body had been ripped apart. All of his limbs had been burned from his torso, with the exception for that of his right arm, which he carried in his hand; a small vial of pale green. There too, was only a portion of liquid left, the rest had been destroyed. He told me 'Tell Zappa I'm sorry.' "  
  
"WHAAAAT!" cried Zappa.  
  
". . . I'm terribly sorry."  
  
"That was my cure!"  
  
"Then I believe I found the culprit behind this attack." Ky turned his sword towards the man, hoisting it's blade up towards his pale neck, "I'm sorry, Zappa, but I'm afraid I must place you under arrest for involuntary genocide."  
  
"You can't be serious!" cried Zappa, his arms and hands flaring in turmoil, "It wasn't my fault!"  
  
"That is why I said 'involuntary'. Under direct counseling of the Holy Order, you are to be placed back in the isolation area until a proper cure is found for your illness."  
  
Zappa's panicstriken face suddenly dove into his hands and he moaned loudly, "Ahh! Mr. . . . Kiske . . . Get away . . . from me! Now!" but it quickly developed into an earpiercing scream of pain. Ky stepped back from the man and observed the developing horror. The clouded skies condensed to a grim grave to black. In several areas, the clouds seemed to develop into vast bald heads and scream down at the earth in a booming thunder streaking along the skies afterwards. Zappa's head launched itself back and his chest buldged out unnaturally. His body marred itself with new streaks of blood and tearing flesh. " . . . Or I will curse you to hell!" The voice that came from Zappa's body was not his, but someone elses; an echoing and much more commanding tone then that of normal. It echoed through Phantom City, and he screamed once again. He fell limp onto his back, but his arms and legs twisted around into a crab's position, and he placed his large hands and scrawny feet firmly on the ground. His head spun wildly in completely circles.  
  
"What are you!" cried Ky.  
  
"Bu-buda-buda-buda-buda-buda - YEEEOOOOOOOW!!!" screamed Zappa.  
  
Zappa's body bent with extreme flexitivity as he lunged himself towards Ky, falling short and slamming into the broken asphault of the streets. "OooooOOO!" he said, sliding upward back on his feet. Suddenly, with his back turned to Ky, Zappa went erect and his hands shot to his sides. A wide opening seared across the bottom of his back with a disgusting squishing sound as six smaller holes punctured him just above. The large gash quivered briefly, and to Ky's horror, it morphed into a large mouth, growing teeth and a licking tongue, and the smaller holes developed into dark orange eyes to complete a hidious face. It puckered up, as if it had something inside of it's mouth, and soon after, Zappa's arms threw themselves outward and a large jagged sword stained with his own blood spurt out of his back. It's bulky design levitated around his figure as the face cracked a grin.  
  
"Isolation will not do good." said Ky; "and I'm afraid I am too far to call for help. Look like I have only one choice."  
  
Ky leaped forward and clashed swords with Zappa, or whatever it was that was possessing him. The holy knight's blade was light and manuverable, allowing him to perform his skillful moves with professional ease. But while the demon's was one of great size and mass, it danced around as if it were in the hands of a highly trained warrior. Over time, Zappa summoned miniature ghosts of gray and launched them towards Ky, who was able to dodge them as they splattered into the ground in a mass of purple goo.  
  
"Stun Edge!" cried Ky as he released crackling bolts of lightning from his sword. Zappa, who would always open his body up to allow the bolt to pass through him danced wickedly about with his own grim blade swinging and skewering anything that in it's path. It wasn't long before Ky made a near fatal mistake attempting to block the massive girth which spun in his direction. The blade of Zappa sliced across his face, leaving a godawful gash at his cheek. Nearly loosing his own sword, the holy warrior tried to leap away but was only caught by another tremendous bite, sending him to the gritty asphalt with a deeply wounded hip.  
  
Ky rose to his feet and pressed his hand to his hip. A declaration of fear came over him as he began to think he might've underestimated the power of this threat infront of him. From what Ky could tell, Zappa was relying purely on instinct, for none of his attacks or manuevers showed a sense of order or balance. He was throwing himself this way and that like a child with a ragged doll, only to pick himself up and bob his head low to the ground. Zappa, on the other hand, or what had taken control of him, laughed manically as though he had inherited a new and more brutal sense of sadistical madness.  
  
The holy knight's blade shrouded in blue electricity and he released the potential energy into a kenetic missle. A large bolt of lightning slammed into Zappa, but it didn't stop him. The damage only fueled the raging sickness that plaqued the poor man. Inside, Zappa had awakened, but it didn't subside. He screamed at himself, only to have the feeling of talking to a brick wall. Inside, he begged the demon to go away, to cease it's relentless frenzy. However, the body released a couple of more of the ghosts under his command, ordering them to assist. The ghouls launched themselves towards the marred policeman, each grasping one of his wrists with their puny fingers and lifting him several inches from the ground. His only defense dropped to the ground with a loud clang.  
  
Helpless and defenseless and most of his mobility taken away by the gruesome blade of Zappa, Intense pain surged through his body. So fierce that Ky couldn't feel himself scream as the piece of metal plunged merciliessly into his body. Blood spewed.  
  
"COUN-COUNCEL?!" screamed the voice. "CURSE YOU!"  
  
"Stop it!" retorted Zappa. "Stop hurting him!"  
  
The demon backstepped towards Ky as if it were a regular strut and then stopped in a deadly still stance. Ky observed under bloody eyes, a figure bulging from Zappa's back as if it were a hot mold. A full, but scrawny-bodied man clad in a beige nightgown sprouted but did not deattach himself from the source. The gown was cut off from his shoulders. His skin was a deathly pale. His long dark hair drapped infront of his unseen eyes. Even so, he could still see as if normal. Ky's body; blood seeped out of the various wounds dug in his torso that he had received during the fight. The demon smiled.  
  
"Beautiful," he said with a content voice. "I am proud."  
  
"Don't touch me!" cried Ky. "I know your nightmarish touch and I for one am not going to be a victim!"  
  
Zappa's demon flicked some hair and revealed a portion of his hazy gray eyes. A wicked smirk spread across his face. "But you are!"  
  
Ky resisted, even tried to break free from the minions' grasp but to no prevail. A dark loom of the demon's hand cast eastbound as the sun tipped into the horizon of wests. "No!" the holy knight screamed, "No!" even as Zappa's pale bony hand gripped his bruised face. A split second after contact, Ky opened his eyes to find he was shrouded in darkness. A lone withered tree stood out. Several battered limbs shot with layers of green moss branched out from a moldy trunk. It strangely reminded Ky of a stillnight in a graveyard. The next thing he knew, the poor man saw what nightmarish arcane powers that Zappa had used to kill his victims. A sudden darkness overcame him and Ky began to see distorted images - silhouettes - that of men, young men being piled atop of each other. It was nothing new to the holy knight. Many thoughts ran through his head but it all came down to the next garbled image. A vast eye flashed; the truth eye of Zappa and a deathly screamed followed immediately after. Ky grabbed his chest as though he were having a painful attack and stumbled to the floor below him. The surrounding had returned to normal and he had been freed by the ghosts but Zappa's looming shadow cast itself over a weary body, observing that the quivering body that was Ky had a face flushed with a lurid pale and he was breathing very hoarse and rapidly. He was lucky.  
  
"Ah, a strong spirit you have." said the demon. "Nobody has survived my frightening attack before!"  
  
All of a sudden, a strong surge of an unknown force jolted the Zappa, causing him to fling to the ground. With an angry hiss, the demon that possessed the host clinched a shard of asphalt and beat it against himself in attempt to conquer his rival.  
  
"Stop it, Zappa! Stop it!" he cried.  
  
"No!" retorted Zappa. "I will not allow you to hurt him, to hurt me, or to hurt ANYONE ANYMORE!"  
  
"Foolish man. What will you do!" The body expanded to a painfully large figure, as if it were a balloon and then deflated, followed by a lingering swell of a blade that had been continuing to hover behind him. Unexpectedly, it ripped through his body as if it were possessed by some other force. Zappa chuckled as the demon cried out in pain, and only laughed louder as the blade danced through him as it did Ky. "You idiot! You're hurting yourself as well!"  
  
"If it is to keep you from harming others then so be it! You've killed Faust. Ky is fighting for his life. Do you take pleasure in this game? Well?! DO YOU!" said Zappa. It wasn't long aftewards before the demon cried so loud that it caused his head to spin around in several circles and rip from his body, which went limp and fell lifelessly to the ground. It seemed Zappa was finally cured. Neither him, nor the hidious demon spoke again.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
By some instinct of survival or miracle of being a holy knight, Ky had come too. The color had returned to his face and his quivering had gone. The pain, which he took little notice too, was still a burden, but he observed after a quiet moment that Zappa had fallen. With a sigh; one of relief and grief, he slowly stood to his feet, clasping his sword. It's slender blade was notched from the gruesome battle. Ky took a step, but stumbled. However, he glanced ahead of him to see a vast shadow lurking towards him. He looked up to see a floating airship. It's engines roared with a distinct might. Below the belly of the ship, a single rope dangled loosely with a familiar man in a black hat and trenchcoat waving down at Ky. A cocky grin spread across his face. A blue-ish green pair of eyes widened with joy as the words: "May Ship" came into focus. Never in his years of service would the young police officer ever dream to think that one day he might've needed the presence of a liquor bar & drunkard along with his crew of chivalrous bandits. 


End file.
